The first hospital (now the Ernie Bodin Community Centre)

Municipal hall (now the Fire Department building)

Library above the curling rink

Grocery store

Grocery store

Furniture store

Outdoor swimming pool (closed in 1981)

Our museum showcases the heritage and people of Mackenzie and the Northern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia, Canada.

This region has a rich cultural, social, and natural history that led to the development of Mackenzie in the 1960s as an ‘Instant Town’ in the Canadian wilderness.

Explore our history by visiting our museum in the Ernie Bodin Centre, and browsing our growing story and artefact collections online.

Home to More Than the World’s Largest Tree Crusher

Truth? We don’t like to talk about the tree crusher much. It’s such a small part of our story. But it does reflect the struggles, resourcefulness, tenacity, and spirit of the people that call this part of the world home.

Everything about this place is big. First Nations have known this vast wilderness for centuries, witnessing and guiding explorers, surveyors, and settlers in their audacious pursuits. Our watershed is bigger than some countries, and today fills a reservoir of epic proportions that marks an era of grand-scale resource development in British Columbia. This land is home for Canada’s first Aboriginal Woman Supreme Court Justice, has enticed visionaries and entrepreneurs, and fledged Olympic-sized talent. Woven through all of this is perseverance, ingenuity, and pride in this beautiful northern valley.

Our small museum has big stories to tell, and we want to share them with the world. We hope you’ll pour yourself a cup of joe and stay a while.

Our PEOPLE, OUR STORIES

Connecting past and present from Summit Lake to Sifton Pass by sharing stories of the people and events that make this northern valley so remarkable. We’d love for you to share your story with us!

Edward Ruzicka

My Grandfather, Edward Ruzicka, was with a party of prospectors in the early 1900’s. They did work with the RCMP for one summer, constructing a part of the RCMP trail. I understood it was the trail east of Ft. Graham.

They worked on trail going from Ft. Graham to the west, up the Omineca River and at that time visited a site (Mica Peaks) that would become a mica mine in the 1920’s. They had traveled up the Finlay River until they reached Deserter’s Canyon.

While they were living in the Finlay Forks area, my Grandfather told me how they met a family of Indians from the Ft. Graham area. They helped the family (the family was on the verge of starvation, they were either ill or the main provider was injured) and an older man in the family showed my Grandfather a number of native medicines. One of them was pitch.